Windows 7 hangs from boot menu

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Level 1

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Windows 7 hangs from boot menu

Hi,

my Windows 7 partition refuses to start from boot menu, system just hangs and does nothing. I've not made any changes to the disk layout, only thing I can think of is the upgrade to 10.9.4 which probably changed the recovery partition.

History:

- iMac Mavericks 10.9.3 with boot camp 5.1.2 and Windows 7, used to start into Windows by pressing Alt on start up, then reboot from Windows menu or from Windows boot camp application into OS X and back without problems

- installed the 10.9.4 Build 13E28 upgrade some days ago

- Change today: rebooted from the boot camp system tray app into OS X, worked without a problem

- reboot from OS X into boot menu, select Windows 7 partition, system hangs

I've found this thread, describing a similar problem Repairing Boot Camp after creating new partition I think, however since my Index output only lists 4 partitions I think my problem might be a bit different.

Here's the output from: sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0

gpt show: disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 816890832 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

817300472 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

818570008 1256

818571264 158201856 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

976773120 15

976773135 32 Sec GPT table

976773167 1 Sec GPT header

and this one is from: sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 816890832] HFS+

3: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 817300472 - 1269536] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 818571264 - 158201856] HPFS/QNX/AUX

and, just in case: diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Calimera 418.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 7 81.0 GB disk0s4

I guess something mixed up the MBR since I would have expected line 4 of the fdisk output to show something 'Windows' like instead of HPFS/QNX/AUX, but even if that is correct, the question is how can the boot problem be fixed?

The Windows partition is accessible from OS X, so copying the data is not a problem if everything else fails. As far as I remember, the boot camp version in windows is 3.3 (it's an older iMac model).

GDisk is available, command line not a problem, if you need any further info let me know, any help appreciated.

thanks,

jk

Posted on Jul 14, 2014 10:45 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 15, 2014 1:02 PM in response to JKTwo

If you have not done any resizing of the partitions, but installed the Mavericks upgrade, which may have moved recovery partition, then a Windows Startup Recovery should fix the issue.

Does the Bootcamp partition show up in Finder and can you see files in it? In Disk Utility, does the Bootcamp partition report as NTFS? Do you have any third party NTFS drivers? If you hold the ALT key can you boot into Windows?

If you came from 10.9.3 to 10.9.4, the Recovery HD should have existed under 10.9.3.

The one strange part is that your volume says "Windows 7". Were any diskutil commands run to change volume names?

On my machine as an example....

sudo fdisk /dev/rdisk0

Password:

Disk: /dev/rdisk0 geometry: 121643/255/63 [1954210120 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 1452530904] HFS+

3: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1452940544 - 1269536] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1454211072 - 499998720] HPFS/QNX/AUX

diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 743.7 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 256.0 GB disk0s4

Can you execute the following (this is from the other thread you posted on)?

Please post the result from this read-only command which displays the 1st sector of the 4th GPT partition. It should contain an NTFS boot sector if the resize worked correctly. The first line should contain something similar to this, with .R.NTFS... visible. Either post the actual result or confirm/deny it contains R.NTFS.

sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

If it contains NTFS, then booting the Windows install media and running Windows Startup Repair may find and fix the problem automatically.

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Answer 2

JKTwo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 15, 2014 4:09 PM in response to Loner T

Hi,

> Does the Bootcamp partition show up in Finder and can you see files in it?

Yes, the partition shows up in Finder and I can see and copy files.

> In Disk Utility, does the Bootcamp partition report as NTFS?

Yes it does, "Get Info" from Finder also reports it as a NTFS volume.

> Do you have any third party NTFS drivers?

Yes I have, Paragon NTFS tools.

> If you hold the ALT key can you boot into Windows?

No, system just hangs and needs to be rebooted via power-off.

> If you came from 10.9.3 to 10.9.4, the Recovery HD should have existed under 10.9.3.

Yes it did, I did a clean install from USB media when Mavericks came out, the Recovery HD is also visible - and has been - in the boot menu.

> The one strange part is that your volume says "Windows 7". Were any diskutil commands run to change volume names?

No, just a left click on the Volume Name in Finder and then change Bootcamp to Windows 7.

Output of dd:

00000000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20 20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00 |.R.NTFS .....|

00000010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00 3f 00 ff 00 00 68 ca 30 |........?....h.0|

00000020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00 ff f7 6d 09 00 00 00 00 |..........m.....|

00000030 00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|

00000040 f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 d7 f9 07 a2 27 08 a2 26 |............'..&|

00000050 16 1d 72 73 fa 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07 |..rs.3.....|.h..|

00000060 1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16 0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e |..hf......f.>..N|

00000070 54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb |TFSu..A..U..r...|

00000080 55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00 75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec |U.u.....u.......|

00000090 18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16 0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13 |.h...H..........|

000000a0 9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72 e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3 |.....X.r.;...u..|

000000b0 0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e 5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8 |........Z3... +.|

000000c0 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8 |f...............|

000000d0 4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00 bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d |K.+.w......f#.u-|

000000e0 66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75 24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16 |f..TCPAu$....r..|

000000f0 68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16 68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66 |h...hp..h..fSfSf|

00000100 55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66 61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf |U...h..fa....3..|

00000110 28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e |(........_...f`.|

00000120 06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06 1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00 |.f...f.....fh...|

00000130 00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00 68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e |.fP.Sh..h...B...|

00000140 00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66 59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f |.......fY[ZfYfY.|

00000150 0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff |....f...........|

00000160 0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66 61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00 |...u...fa.......|

00000170 a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00 |..............<.|

00000180 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 |t.............A |

00000190 64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 |disk read error |

000001a0 6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64 00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d |occurred...BOOTM|

000001b0 47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69 73 73 69 6e 67 00 0d 0a |GR is missing...|

000001c0 42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52 20 69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70 72 |BOOTMGR is compr|

000001d0 65 73 73 65 64 00 0d 0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 43 74 |essed...Press Ct|

000001e0 72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b 44 65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72 65 |rl+Alt+Del to re|

000001f0 73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a 00 8c a9 be d6 00 00 55 aa |start.........U.|

00000200

So, you think running the Windows startup repair will fix the problem? Is there something that I should be aware of in terms of interfering with the OS X partition?

jk

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 15, 2014 5:04 PM in response to JKTwo

JKTwo wrote:

> In Disk Utility, does the Bootcamp partition report as NTFS?

Yes it does, "Get Info" from Finder also reports it as a NTFS volume.

Is it exactly NTFS or something like UDS_NTFS? The Paragon driver can interfere at times. If may be worth disabling it for the short term so the Apple NTFS driver can see the Bootcamp drive.

JKTwo wrote:

> Do you have any third party NTFS drivers?

Yes I have, Paragon NTFS tools.

Does the Bootcamp partition show in Startup disk under System Preferences?

JKTwo wrote:

> If you hold the ALT key can you boot into Windows?

No, system just hangs and needs to be rebooted via power-off.

I should have added when you power up the boot and hold the ALT key, do you see Windows as an option?

JKTwo wrote:

So, you think running the Windows startup repair will fix the problem? Is there something that I should be aware of in terms of interfering with the OS X partition?

It is a valid file system. A Windows Startup Repair should work. You may have to use bootrec.exe to fix the MBR.

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Answer 4

JKTwo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 15, 2014 5:26 PM in response to Loner T

Is it exactly NTFS or something like UDS_NTFS? The Paragon driver can interfere at times. If may be worth disabling it for the short term so the Apple NTFS driver can see the Bootcamp drive.

Disk Utility reports "Windows NT Filesystem".

Does the Bootcamp partition show in Startup disk under System Preferences?

No, it's only showing the OS X partition.

I should have added when you power up the boot and hold the ALT key, do you see Windows as an option?

Yes, it's showing the OS X, the Windows and the Recovery HD partition.

It is a valid file system. A Windows Startup Repair should work. You may have to use bootrec.exe to fix the MBR.

Ok, I'll backup my home directory and give it a try.

Will report back when it's done.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 15, 2014 6:05 PM in response to JKTwo

JKTwo wrote:

Does the Bootcamp partition show in Startup disk under System Preferences?

No, it's only showing the OS X partition.

I should have added when you power up the boot and hold the ALT key, do you see Windows as an option?

Yes, it's showing the OS X, the Windows and the Recovery HD partition.

These two together suggest that the Paragon driver takes over the NTFS Bootcamp, which causes the Apple HFS driver to not find the Bootcamp partition to report to Startup Disk.

If the Windows boot sector can be fixed, then this conflict can be tackled as the next issue.

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 15, 2014 8:40 PM in response to JKTwo

Please see page 14-15 of NTFS4Mac11_en_manual.pdf on the Paragon website. The Tuxera driver (I use the free NTFS-3g - 2010 version). All NTFS-3g versions let me pick specific volumes which the driver should not use. Here is a screen shot.

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Answer 7

JKTwo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 16, 2014 2:13 AM in response to Loner T

Update:

I've read the Paragon manual and tried activating the Windows partition from within their tool only to get the same result, system does not respond anymore and needs to be restarted via power off.

Next I tried to boot the Windows install media from my external DVD drive but that failed, so I tried the internal drive, which also failed. I checked the disc with another system and it worked without a problem so at least it wasn't the disc. Then I remembered that boot camp requires an internal drive with no externally

(USB) connected hardware and unplugged the DVD drive.

Reboot, press and hold C to start from DVD but to my surprise the boot camp system startet. Login was successful, systems seems to be ok. So restart from within windows, DVD still inserted, holding ALT to select OS X. Works fine, too. Another reboot, again pressing C, again the boot camp system starts, ignoring the DVD.

Then I replugged the DVD drive to check wether the freeze is reproducible and indeed, same behaviour as before, OS X can be started, selecting Windows from the startup manager freezes the system.

The external DVD drive is not new to the system but hasn't been used for a while, so I guess at least part of the problem is related to that drive.

However, I still don't see the Windows partition in SPrefs / Startup Disk, and it's strange that the system won't boot the DVD, but that's what I'm going to try and solve next, maybe the Windows startup repair gives another hint on the problem.

Thanks for your help so far, much appreciated.

jk

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 16, 2014 3:49 AM in response to JKTwo

Can I suggest that your remove Paragon from the system, with the assumption that it can be re-installed and you have a permanent valid license.

Once you have done that, please retest switching

1. from OSX -> Windows via System Preferences -> Startup Disk, and,

2. from Windows -> OSX via Control Panel -> Boot Camp Assistant

If both these work without any glitches, then you have the ability to discuss this with the Paragon folks. The Paragon and Tuxera branches are derived from the free NTFS-3g AFAIK.

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Answer 9

JKTwo Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 16, 2014 8:28 AM in response to Loner T

Hi, with Paragon removed everything is back to normal, the Windows partition shows up in sysprefs and switching between the system works like a charm.

I'll get in touch with Paragon to check wether they have issues with 10.9.4 and the 10.x version of their software, maybe I just need an upgrade.

Again, thanks a lot for your help!

jk

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 16, 2014 8:41 AM in response to JKTwo

You can use the newer version of NTFS-3g via Macports (without the Preference panel) or http://sourceforge.net/projects/ntfsfree/ (with caveats) or use the older 2010 release that is available (it has fuse_wait add-on for fixing some timing issues).

Glad to see it all work. 😀

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